Title: Creed 9: God the Holy Spirit - Church (Communion) Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-22 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. By: Pastor Micah Adamson June 3, 2018 1 Corinthians 10:2-4 (NIV84) Title

Introduction: Since Easter we’ve been reviewing the Ministry of the Trinity from the Creeds. The Doctrine of the Trinity: God is three persons in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (1-3). God the Father: God is eternally Father of Jesus, who invites us to call His Father, Our Father (1). Jesus’ Ministry: Deity, incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension (2-6). The Holy Spirit: Is also God, come to fulfill the New Covenant promises of uniting us to Christ, applying the forgiveness found in Jesus to us, and equipping us for ministry (8-10).

Creeds (9): Apostles’ Creed: I believe in the holy universal church: the communion of saints. Nicene Creed: I believe in one holy universal and apostolic church. Combined: I believe in the [one] holy universal [and apostolic] church: [the communion of saints]. All the words for the church in both creeds are synonyms for either holiness or unity (except for Apostolic).

NHCC Statement of Faith (9):  The Church. We believe that the church, which is the body and bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born again persons in this age of grace, irrespective of their affiliation with Christian organizations. (Eph. 1:2-23; 5:25-27; 1 Cor. 12:12-14) Body/Bride = Organism regardless of organization. Building = Unity (but not organic) Age of grace = New Covenant Born again = New Covenant 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 is cited in the NHCC statement of faith about the Holy Spirit and the church = Unity through the Spirit.

Baptism/Communion are Connected: The Holy Spirit’s Ministry is connected to baptism/communion in the Creeds: I believe in the [one] holy universal [and apostolic] church: [the communion of saints] (9). I [believe in/acknowledge] [one baptism for] the [forgiveness/remission] of sins (10). Paul describes the Spirit’s ministry in 1 Corinthians 12 as baptism/communion. Paul explains how to correctly eat communion as those united in Christ in 1 Corinthians 11. Paul links baptism/communion at the start of 1 Corinthians 10.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (NIV84) 12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. Christians are baptized into Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Christians also drink the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (NIV84) 1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. The Israelites were baptized believers, like the Corinthians. The Israelites had communion by eating/drinking Jesus! But, baptism/communion didn’t save Israel.

1 Corinthians 10:5-10 (NIV84) 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. [Numbers 14, 26, 32] 6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” [Exodus 32:6] 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. [Numbers 25] 9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. [Numbers 21] 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. [Numbers 11, 16] Don’t set your hearts on evil things… (Bodies scattered) Common temptations: Idolatry [plague], Immorality (plague), Testing (snakes), Grumbling (destroying angel).

1 Corinthians 10:11-13 (NIV84) 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. Fulfillment of the ages = New Covenant OT Examples/Warnings = Be careful! Stand firm/don’t fall = Temptation seizes you A way out = Mountain pass of escape God is faithful = What Israel kept forgetting. Idolatry vs. true worship = What is at stake in any temptation.

1 Corinthians 14:14-22 (NIV84) 14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. 18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

1 Corinthians 10 Revisited: Unless the Spirit’s work in baptism/communion is present, outward washing/eating can’t save us. Israel wasn’t just complaining about food/water, they were complaining about God’s salvation. The manna they didn’t like was actually Jesus as the bread of heaven (John 6). The water they weren’t satisfied with was the living water of the Spirit from Jesus (John 4,7). Water from the rock, bread from heaven, cloud, and God’s Spirit, were connected in the OT (Neh. 9:15, 19-20).

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (NIV84) 1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Jesus is the rock that gave Israel spiritual drink. The water is the Holy Spirit (John 7). The church age is like being in the desert (Rev. 12:6).

John 7:37-39 (NIV84) 37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast [of Tabernacles], Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. The promise of the coming Spirit is described often as water in the OT (Ezek. 36:25-27, 47:1-9, Zech. 13:1, 14:8). Is “him” with water/Spirit inside the believer or Jesus? The Water/Spirit flows out of Jesus (John 19).

John 19:33-37 (NIV84) 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” [Exod. 12:46; Num. 9:12; Psalm 34:20] 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.” [Zech. 12:10] Blood/water flowed out of Jesus to show the Holy Spirit/Living water was poured out to forgive our sins. This is the quote from Zechariah 12:10 alluded to in John 7.

Zechariah 12:10, 13:1, 14:8 (NIV84) 10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 1 On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. 8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter. Jesus’ blood/Spirit are described as a fountain of living water which will cleanse/forgive us from sin and flow out to the world!

Exodus 17 Revisited: God is the Rock: 1 Corinthians 10, calls Jesus the rock quoting from an OT passage about God as the rock. Moses’ staff is the instrument of God’s judgment: Moses “struck” the Nile to turn it into blood (Ex. 7:17-25). God “struck down” the firstborn in judgement on the gods of Egypt (Ex. 12:12, Num 33:4). The two gods that God symbolically struck/killed with plagues, where the Nile and Pharaoh’s son.

Exodus 17:1-7 (NIV84) (1 of 2) 1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” 3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” 4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

Exodus 17:1-7 (NIV84) (2 of 2) 5 The Lord answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb [Sinai]. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Moses executed judgment on God their rock with the same instrument of judgment used to strike the “god” of the Nile! Jesus has been struck. All we have to do is call on the name of the Lord in order to receive forgiveness of sins by the Spirit. (Acts 2:21, Rom. 10:13, Joel 2:28-32).

Conclusion: Don’t participate/have communion with Jesus and idols/demons. Don’t be ungrateful/Eucharistic against God for Jesus/Spirit. Don’t just avoid sin, confess your sin of idolatry, immorality, testing, and grumbling and look to Jesus to be forgiven. John 3:14-16 (NIV84) 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. We believe in [one] holy universal [and apostolic] church: [the communion of saints]. Bible says we’re united/made Holy by water/Spirit forgiving our sin.